worst analog filter! and favorite digital non-softies)

[remote337]

Worst Analog Filter is a tougher call. Out of the gear I have I would say the MS20 Filter is my least favorite. Not that it's actually sounds bad. I just find the High Pass Filter nearly useless as it only works in conjunction with the Low Pass. Maybe my MS isn't working right?[/QUOTE


You're right!!

You're MS20 is broken,

[projectwoofer]

Worst analog filter: Roland Alpha Juno/MKS-50, JX8P/10/MKS-70.
Almost digital sounding in a bad way...

Best digital filter: Roland JD-800/990, Kurzweil K2x00, Waldorf Microwave II/XT.
Almost analog sounding in a good way...

[steveman]

Originally Posted by thick accent

My favorite digital filters are my S-760's. Brilliant.

Would also concur with the EMU Morpheus Z-Plane. That's what a digital filter should do - something that can't be done in analogue.

[AvS]

Best digital : JD-990
Worst analog: SH-2. Doesnt sound ugly but the big amount of volume and lowend that disappears when your turn up the resonance makes it really frustrating to work with.

[grumphh]

To me the worst analogue filter i have experienced is probably the one in my Matrix6r.
Great synth btw, but the filter is just to "dry" for me.

Best digital? Probably the filter(s) in the K5000

[djugel]

In before someone disses the Akai AX-60 filter ... you're wrong!

[shadowfac]

Worst analog filter: Waldorf Pulse
Best digital filters: Waldorf XT

IMO, the Poly-800 filter is good. Has plenty of character.

[robkramble]

No bad experience with an analog filter yet (hopefully never will have one ), purchased my first analog filter a month or so ago in fact! Got a Doepfer A-105 and love it. Getting an ES-4 for modulation as soon as I can, but in the mean time I've been a knob-jockey () and resampled my own hand-made modulation on slowed down samples and sped them up again. Cool for percussion.

Once again, only one piece of outboard, so the only non-VST digital filter I have is in my Roland VariOS and it seems to be fine. Good Wah effect, the high-pass was solid too imo.

VST filters I'd say Volcano 2 and the GRM Bandpass/Reson (if you use it properly) are my go-to filters as well (not that anyone asked lol)

[Scories]

Digital : I used to enjoy the Eventide ModFactor's lpf/bpf/hph.
You could get an envelope follower that can activate a some random lfo/panner. With extra delay...

Analog : Maybe I had dirty unit, but I did not liked much the MG-1 filter, despite the name. My first encounter with Moog and there was no magic.

[Rob Ocelot]

Originally Posted by djugel

In before someone disses the Akai AX-60 filter ... you're wrong!

Haha. I was contemplating mentioning the AX-60's filter. I wouldn't class it as 'worst' or anything like that....

More like this:

Unique in a way that probably 95% of people can't appreciate.

I've read some literature that it has a 2-pole 12db filter but I was quite surprised to find that it has CEM 3394's under the hood -- the chip has an integrated 4-pole filter so there's something very interesting going on there. It certainly doesn't sound or behave like other 3394's like the SixTrak.

The other odd thing is that the resonance goes way beyond anything I've ever heard, with filter self-oscillation happening at around the '4' position on the slider. Higher than that and you are into a no-man's land of tones that defy description. It's almost as if Akai hired someone who was totally ignorant of analog synth design -- and the designer decided to let the end user access the full range of voltages available to the synth-on-a-chip without any regard to what the result would sound like.

My pet theory as to why the filter is this way has to do with the AX-60's ability to modulate the filter using the VCO -- sort of a pseudo FM as their answer to the DX-7. The extended resonance range really comes in handy for making crazy metallic sounds at the expense of the traditional analog synth sweet spot. As a result the filter doesn't immediately gratify in the same way that say a classic Roland one does.


As for the fav digital filters I'm having a blast reading this thread because I seem to gravitate to many of the ones mentioned here: Roland S760 and JD990, E/MU ESI 4000, Waldorf Microwave XT. All of these beasts are in my current rig!

[Spectralwaves]

My least favourite analogue filter is the Jupiter 6 s Low pass filter..
I love the synth especially using hi pass & band pass, but I found the Low pass filter disappointing , I thought it would have a lot more balls like the Sh101 , I love the LPF on that synth.
I dont like the way the lpf on the J6 thins out the sound on higher resonance. It sounds quite brittle to me. Having said that I can & do get sounds I like with the LPF on my J6 , just not in a particularly large range .
Favourite digital filters MWXT & JD800 , & Emu Ultraproteus & E5000 ..

[jarlywarly]

Originally Posted by shadowfac

Worst analog filter: Waldorf Pulse

Wha, really? I've been playing the Pulse all week and I really dig it's filter. The resonance steals volume, but it's not so bad.

I'm guessing that may people who find the Pulse too harsh don't realise that the filter input is already distorting at <30% of the Osc volume.

Turn the Osc levels way down for the dulcet tones.



The PPG filter on the Blofeld is very nice, as are it's comb filters.

[projectwoofer]

Originally Posted by jarlywarly

Wha, really? I've been playing the Pulse all week and I really dig it's filter. The resonance steals volume, but it's not so bad.

I'm guessing that may people who find the Pulse too harsh don't realise that the filter input is already distorting at <30% of the Osc volume.

Turn the Osc levels way down for the dulcet tones.

Yeah some ppl here seem to have problems with that filter. IMO, one of the best...and I particularly enjoy the overdriven sounds out of it.

Resonance steals volume: all Moog ladder filters (and not only) do that. So what?

[Sudad G]

Originally posted by Projectwoofer
JX8P/10/MKS-70.
Almost digital sounding in a bad way...

??? Why ??? The JX10/MKS70 are one of the warmest sounding pieces. They sound very fat and bright and analog. Ok - don't use the original presets. They are very digital.

Sudad G

[projectwoofer]

Originally Posted by Sudad G

??? Why ??? The JX10/MKS70 are one of the warmest sounding pieces. They sound very fat and bright and analog. Ok - don't use the original presets. They are very digital.

Sudad G

Apologies for my ears and taste not being the same as yours...
Tbh I find the JD-990 to be warmer and fatter than, say the MKS-70 plus it can cover a lot similar ground (with the vintage card added)...but that's just me!

[Sudad G]

Originally posted by projectwoofer
Apologies for my ears and taste not being the same as yours...
Tbh I find the JD-990 to be warmer and fatter than, say the MKS-70 plus it can cover a lot similar ground (with the vintage card added)...but that's just me!

This seems to be interesting, because I own a JD-990 too, that I like very much. Its pads are very lush and warm. The MKS-70 sounds more simple but with more pressure and warmth.

Some people reported, that there are different OS and filter versions of the MKS-70 - the same problem with MKS-80. Some of them sounds very thin others very fat. I have an older version (OS 1.03).
Maybe that could be the reason.

Sudad G

[nightmorph]

agreed on the AX60 filter. that thing is hard to work. a little bit of tweaking goes a long way. that being said, just by playing with the vco mod, cut-off, and resonance, without changing any other parameters...the same patch can undergo numerous indescribable changes. some of them are so wild i doubt i could work 'em into a song via the usual sequenced parameter sweep. i'd probably have to sample just a bit of an out-there sound and work that static moment back into the track.

[xanderbeanz]

Although incredibly interesting, and capable of sounds you won't find anywhere else, the Casio HT series DCO's and Filters are pretty damned weak, resonance sucks all the bottom end out and the resolution is like 30 levels or something, that's like 2 bit?.

Digital wise, i know it's steppy, and they're not accurate to the dB levels indicated (Don worked that one out) but i always very much liked the tone of the An1x filters, you can really nail alot of warm analogue sounds with them.

[percussion boy]

Originally Posted by NAWAX

From what I've used:

Worst analog filter: the four-pole LPF of the CEM 3394 (Dark energy/Sixtrack...). Harsh and not musical (imho)

Yep, same feeling here. I could never warm up to the six trak, and I really wanted to. Good cheap analog polys are hard to find nowadays.

Another mediocre Curtis filter is the one in the Akai Ax80, although the synth is good for certain things. Sometimes you're actually better off opening the cutoff frequency as high as it will go, to take the filter out of the game. Used to do this and then run the output through the SEM filter in an ATC, that was a sweet sound, sort of a homeless man's Oberheim.

The Roland MKS70 has a distinctly sexless and un-Moogy 24 db filter, although that machine sure does a smooth string patch; bad analog filter, good analog chorus.
---

Sweet digital filters: The Arturia Moog modular soft synth.

Also the Miniak, less hi fi but musically useful. Nice to have formants and the various fake analog filter types. The filtering gives the Ak some good flavors not available on similar vintage digital synths (Yamaha Dx, Casio CZ).

[astraeus000]

Akai AX-80. yucko

DSS-1 however, YUM !

[AnalogGuy]

Originally Posted by astraeus000

Akai AX-80. yucko

DSS-1 however, YUM !

DSS-1 uses analog filter

[astraeus000]

Originally Posted by AnalogGuy

DSS-1 uses analog filter

Ooops ! then I go with Roland D-50/550

[projectwoofer]

Originally Posted by Sudad G

This seems to be interesting, because I own a JD-990 too, that I like very much. Its pads are very lush and warm. The MKS-70 sounds more simple but with more pressure and warmth.

Some people reported, that there are different OS and filter versions of the MKS-70 - the same problem with MKS-80. Some of them sounds very thin others very fat. I have an older version (OS 1.03).
Maybe that could be the reason.

I've heard about the different filter types on the MKS-80 but not on the MKS-70...anyway, a simple filter sweep from it sounds digital to me...for this reason but also because the oscillators sound sterile to me, I don't find the sound to be warm at all...some hybrids from this era, mainly the Ensoniq ESQ-1/M/SQ-80 and even better the Korg DW/EX-8000 sound much much warmer and "old school" to me.

[Robonaut]

Originally Posted by astraeus000

Akai AX-80. yucko

Yeah, I had one for a while--a very *short* while.


As for best digital filter, I was quite impressed by the filters on Microwave XT that I used to own.

[zxcvbnm]

Originally Posted by AnalogGuy View Post
DSS-1 uses analog filter

Originally Posted by astraeus000

Ooops ! then I go with Roland D-50/550

Oops again, because the D50 dont have any filters!

[AnalogGuy]

Originally Posted by projectwoofer

I've heard about the different filter types on the MKS-80 but not on the MKS-70...anyway, a simple filter sweep from it sounds digital to me...for this reason but also because the oscillators sound sterile to me, I don't find the sound to be warm at all...some hybrids from this era, mainly the Ensoniq ESQ-1/M/SQ-80 and even better the Korg DW/EX-8000 sound much much warmer and "old school" to me.

I also wonder why such opinion because MKS-70 is really one of the most warm analog machine. Have you then tried other machines like alpha juno?

Alpha Juno 1, 2, MKS-50, JX-8P, Super JX-10, MKS-70 and MKS-80 rev 5 uses exactly same filter so you could try out if you think same from all of them.

Also, MKS-70 oscillators uses standard ICs like Juno-60!

[relis]

Worst analog filter:
Roland JX8P


Best digital filters:
Virus (all of them), K2000, JD990, K5000 (most unique)

[projectwoofer]

^^^^^

See? I'm not alone here!

What amazes me the most is not that everyone has a different opinion (that's absolutely normal), but the fact that some ppl are trying hard to persuade you that you must like this or that because it's good (for them!) Respect others' opinions please, thanks...

[MinoCan]

I don't have a long analog background so no comment there.

I like Q's PPG filter emulation digital-wise.

[relis]

Here's the fact: "bad" filter doesn't mean thin and cold sounding synth neccesarily.

JX8P/JX10/MKS70 might be the best case to prove it. Filter is unpleasant sounding and not what we're used to hear from better vintage analog. But sound from this machines is BIG and FAT it's not even funny. If you ask me, JX is one of the few best synths for analog pads and strings. And I'd choose JX8P, 'cause it sounds a little bit warmer than JX10/MKS70.